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| Underlayment plywood + vinyl plank over carpet for an electronics lab |
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| matthuszagh:
I'm moving into a new apartment soon and the room I'll turn into my lab is carpeted. This is obviously undesirable for a couple reasons: (1) ESD (2) hard to clean solder out of carpet (3) easily gets dirty (4) harder to move racks on casters over carpet I'm sure the list goes on. I searched around online and a bunch of links indicate hardwood flooring or vinyl plank can be installed over carpet. If the carpet is really thin and hard, the flooring can be installed directly over the carpet, but otherwise underlayment plywood can be set down first, followed by the vinyl plank. The carpet I'm dealing with isn't very plush or soft, but also isn't like the super hard carpet in commercial spaces. I was planning to do the plywood + vinyl plank approach. I do have some 19-inch racks that are probably in the neighborhood of 400-500lbs and one big shelf that's probably closer to 1k lbs, though I'm guessing. Any thoughts? Has anyone done this? Any pitfalls? I've read that the carpet should be clean and free of moisture before the installation. Any other things to keep in mind? Are there better solutions? I saw these interlocking tiles (https://freestyleflooring.com/solutions/freestyle-commercial-interlocking-flooring/) that are designed specifically for this purpose and look nice, but as it's targeted for commercial clients I'm a bit worried the cost might be too high. Another thing I thought of is the sort of interlocking hard rubber tiles used in gyms. No idea how this would fare for the above criteria. I suppose another related question is linoleum vs vinyl tiles over the plywood. There are ESD-safe tiles, but what I've found starts at $10/ square foot, which is too much. I found vinyl plank at $1.50 to $2 per square foot, which is more what I'm looking to spend. |
| tom66:
Is there a good reason to not remove the carpet? Is it a rental where you have to restore the carpet afterwards? |
| John B:
Generally interlocking flooring like laminate are going to be very intolerant of substrate imperfections, and certainly intolerant of movement. I would also recommend just ripping the carpet. If it's no good anyways, there's nothing to save. I've never understood turning flooring into a geological timecapsule. One bathroom I stripped had multiple layers of flooring on top of one another going back to the 70's. |
| AndyBeez:
What is under the carpet? Wood, concrete, chipboard, fibreboard, underlay, newspaper, porn mags? Never lay interlocking or clip together laminate on an unstable substrate, unless you intend modeling the process of plate tectonics. First, rip out the crap carpet and start with a blank floor. Office grade carpet tiles may be the way to go ahead. |
| matthuszagh:
It's a rental and I'm not sure I can remove the carpet. I may ask them but I'm a bit worried to have my second interaction with them, before I sign the lease, be to ask to make permanent modifications to the unit, especially since they seem quite protective of the place. Also I'd prefer not to pay someone to do this and I'm not sure how they'd feel about having someone (me) who's never done this before installing the new flooring. Is the underlayment plywood not sufficient to provide a stable base for the vinyl plank? I'll try to determine what's under the carpet. I think there's a closet in the room without carpet, so maybe that will give me some idea. The floor seems pretty solid and even. |
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